4 Answers
4

You can do what is known as "reload cancelling" - basically tapping the fire key as soon as the gun is reloaded, but before the animation ends. The timing varies from gun to gun, but you can do it as soon as the magazine shows up as full in your HUD. This just takes some practice.
Quickdraw pro you can use to recover faster from using grenades and equipment - I don't think it allows you to recover faster from melee.

hmmmm. sounds promising. My biggest cause of death is when i get a uav popping it and getting caught weaponless mid exchange.
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Sean GallagherDec 20 '11 at 18:26

Not sure what you mean. Can you explain what you mean by "get a uav popping it"
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SSumnerDec 20 '11 at 19:40

When I use a UAV streak reward, or "pop" out the UAV and activate it. So i try to "pop" the uav and hit melee, fire triggers anything to make it go faster... haven't really done anything that makes it happen noticeably quicker.
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Sean GallagherDec 20 '11 at 20:53

I don't know if anything can help with that. Reload cancelling only works for guns (I don't think they work for launchers except for maybe the XM25 either) and quickdraw pro only works for equipment - I guess kill streaks don't qualify as equipment.
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SSumnerDec 20 '11 at 21:34

gonna try some of this out in a few.
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Sean GallagherDec 22 '11 at 2:11

I'd like to add to the other answers here by saying that there's a longer reload animation when the clip is fully empty. Once you get to a certain stage in the reload, regardless of whether your old clip is empty, you can reload cancel.

I find this especially useful when dealing with the Striker shotgun, as it reloads one shell at a time. The gun's ready for killin' after the first shell is slotted, but you can't press "fire" until the reload is completely finished.

My general method for reload canceling is to double tap the weapon switch button (Y on the Xbox) which will kind of quickly half-lower and half-raise your weapon. It works in more situations than sprinting (ie, when lying prone) and the animation is faster than the knife.

Yes, if the gun is fully empty, the reload must chamber a round and takes longer (~.2 sec). If your gun is partially empty, you can actually cancel the reload before you're done and use the bullets in the old clip that are left. Once you get to that certain point reload canceling finishes the new reload
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SSumnerJan 5 '12 at 18:44

I would like to agree with @agent86 - another tactic I would suggest is knowing your cover areas well; keeping a good eye on your ammo doesn't hurt either. Taking cover while simultaneously activating your UAV or reloading is quite effective. If you start while moving to cover, you get a couple of seconds more to keep moving and let them fire at the wall while you ready your volley back to them.

This gives an added benefit of being able to see that first UAV swipe or to check for their dot on the radar so you're prepared to return fire when they reload - and most people with submachine guns, shotguns, or secondary will reload after seemingly small expenditures (vs LMG or AR).